Refrigeration



Sept. 30, 1952 c. E. PLOEGER REFRIGERATION Filed May 13, 1950 BY% ENTOR.

Patented Sept. 30, 1952 Cl yde .Plcegen- Evansville; liida assigndc toServeL. Inc;, New York, N...Y.,.a corporation' of' Delaware ApplicationMay 13, 1950;..S'crialiNiri'cnsts (Cl. fl -106) 1. Claim. 1

The present invention relates to ice making machines andmore-particularly'to a'const'ruction of ice forming mold' for suchmachines.

One" of the objects of the invention is to providean improved mold"construction which facili-v tates the freezing of liquid in andthe'removal of ice cubes from individual cells so as to-reduce the Itime required and the amount of ice melted during an ice forming andreleasing operation.-

Another object is to vent the mold so as-to break the air seal betweenthe cubes and cells in which they are frozen.

Still another object of the invention is' to prO- vide an ice-formingmoldin the form of an inverted' trayhaving a grid therein to provideadjacent cellsand vent-openings' fbr' the cells in the top wall of themold.

These and other" objects will become more apparent from the followingdescription and drawing in which like reference characters denote likeparts throughout the several views. It is to be expressly understood,however, that the drawingis for the purpose of illustration only and nota definition of the limits of the'inve'ntion, ref erencebelng'had forthis purpose't'o theappended claim. In the drawing:

Fig. 1- isa diagrammatic view of an ice making machine illustrating thenovel ice forming mold of the present invention in perspective;

Fig. 2 is a sectional View of the mold showing the platen moved to" aninclined position toopen the bottom of the mold;

Fig. 3 is a sectional 'view'through a portion of the mold and showingice-formed in the cells of the moldt-and y Fig. 4 is a view similar toFig. 3 showingthe w ice released from'th'e individual cells of the moldand the vent openings overlying the individual cells to facilitate theremoval of the ice 'bygravity.

In the drawings, the invention'is shown applied to an ice making machinecomprising a freezing mold 5'in the form of animated metal'tray havingarectangulartop't and'depending'sides l with cross partitions 8 thereinforming a plurality of adjacent cells 9. The partitions 'B'are j'oinedto the top 6 and sidewalls .1 of the mold '5 and to each other as bybrazing, soldering or welding and are of less depth than the dependingside walls 1 of the mold. Q

A platen [0' is pressed" against the depending side walls 1 of the mold5 by suitable operating mechanism to close the open bottom of the moldand provide a, space between it and the bottom of the partitions 8.Water or other'liquid to be frozen is supplied to the interior ofthemold 5 byduit 2-6 'to'the coil I! when the solenoid is env a funneltube 11- projecting upward1y= from the top wall fiandunderlying'a watersupply pipe l2 controlled" by a solenoid operated valve l3. A standpipeI4 is connected 'to-ones'ide of the mold 5 and a ball'-fioat-l5 inthestandpipe-isadapted to operate a-switch '16 connected-- to controlthe actuation of water valve l3. g

The mold 5 is-success'ively'cooled and-heated by aserpentine' coil llmounted onits top-wall 6. Coil H has straight sections overlying thepartitions 8 and curved end portions-connecting the straight sections.Preferably, the coil I'l is attached in: good heat-conducting relationto the top wall- 6- of the mold T asby." brazing, soldering or weldingit thereto. 'One'end of'the' coil I1 is connected to-the'refrigerant'receiver l8 oi a compres'sion' type refrigeration" system bya conduit l9 having an expansion valve 20 therein. The

opposite end-ofthe'co'il I1 is connected by a-conduit 2| to 'the suctionside of a compressor 22 driven by an electric motor 23. The highpr'ess'ure-sideof the'co'mpressor 22 is connected to a condenser 24byaconduit 25 and the-outlet from the condenser isc'on'nected to'- thereceiver I8. A by-pass conduit 25" also i's connected between thehi'ghpr'essure side of compressor hand the inlet end of coil ['1 and aselector valve 21 is provided at-the' juncture of the coil and conduitsl9 and '26; Selector'valve 21 connects-conduit I 9 to coil ['11 andcloses bypa ss conduit 26 when the solenoid isdeenerg'ized and connectsby-pass conerized.

Platen' In is mounted adjacent one side of mold l for downward androcking movement to.

an inclined position below the mold. Trunnion pins 28"project from theopposite sides of the platen l0 and into one e'nd'o'f'links 29, seeFigs. 1 andz, and the opposite ends of the links are pivotallyc'onnectedto' suitable supports 39. Adjustable stops 31' limit thepivotal movement of the links 2'9'0'11' su ports to". regulate thedownward movement of the platen 10 relative to the mold l. Theplatenoperatingmechanism including p'ush rod i32, see Fig; 2; moves'theplaten It from the clb'sedp'osition illustrated in Fig. l to theopenposition illustrated in Fig. 2 and. Vice VGZ'Sa.

Pieferably. the machine is automatically operated and as illustrateddiagrammatically in Fig. 1, the'rna'chine' iscontrolledby a thermostat33 having" afthermal' bulb 34"responsive to the temperature'ofthemold 5,a bellows 35 connected to theb'u'lb and a single'pole double throwswitch 36 operated by 'the bellows. Switch 38 is so connectedin"anelectric'circuit as'to engage contact 3'! with low temperaturecontact 38 at a predetermined low temperature of the mold 5, see Fig. 1,which energizes the solenoid of selector valve 27 and actuates thelatter to discontinue cooling and initiate heating of the mold. Althoughnot shown, the engagement of contact 31 with low temperature contact 38will energize a branch circuit including the platen operating mechanismto move the platen from the position shown in Fig. 1 to that shown inFig. 2 to open the bottom of the mold 5. Such platen operating mechanismand the arrangement of the platen support, the serpentine coil (l andthermal element 34 of the thermostat 33 are substantially the same asdescribed and claimed in an application for Letters Patent of Dudley R.Cook, Ser. No. 161,824, filed concurrently herewith and entitledRefrigeration. Although not shown, an agitator is preferably provided inthe platen it for agitating the liquid in the mold 6 during freezing andthe mold and platen I d are enclosed in suitable insulating material Iindicated in phantom in Fig. l, the insulation being split to permitmovement of the platen relative to the mold.

The present invention in its broadest aspects comprises a mold having anopen side from which ice is discharged together'withvent means to breakthe air seal between the mold and ice frozen therein. More specifically,the invention comprises a mold of the type described in the form or aninverted metal tray having cross partitions therein to provide adjacentcells and a vent opening for each cell in the top wall of the tray. Themold construction provides metal walls on all sides of the cells exceptthe bottom to transfer heat and thereby freeze ice at a maxirnum rateand the vent means permits the free flow or" liquid into cells '9, theagitation of liquid over all surfacesof the cells and adapts ice cubesto fall freely from the mold by gravity without excessive melting.

In the illustrated embodiment of the invention, the top Wall 6 of themold 5 has a vent opening at for each cell 8. Each vent opening E8 is inthe form of a hole drilled or punched in the top wall 5 and of such asmall size as to prevent the free fiow of liquid therethrough but largeenough to permit air to enter the cells 3.- While the vent openings Gare shown as located centrally over each cell, it will be understoodthat the vent openings may have other locations and that a single ventopening may communicate with adjacent cells. Cine form of the inventionhaving now been described in detail, the mode of -operation is explainedas follows.

For purposes of description it: is assumed that the platen ill is in theclosedposition illustrated in Fig. l, the mold contains water or otherliquid to be frozen and the selector valve El is cleanergized so thatthe mold is being cooled by the evaporation of refrigerantlin theserpentine coil The water or other liquid'in mold 5 is preferablyagitated and being frozen on the walls of the cells 9 which are indirect heat conducting relation to the relatively cold coil ll. As theice builds up on the sides of the cells 9 it acts as an insulatorrequiring an increase in the difference in temperature to cause heat tohow therethrough so that the temperature of the mold graduallydecreases. During a freezing operation the liquid may enter the ventopenings til, due to agitation of the liquid, and freeze therein asillustrated in Figs. 3 and 4. When the cells are completely filled withice as illustrated in Fig. 3 the mold 5 will have been cooled to the lowtemperature at which the bellows operates contact 37 of switch intoengagement with the low temperature contact 38. Engagement of contacts37 and 38 energizes the solenoid of selector valve 21 to open by-passconduit 26 and thereby terminate cooling and initiate heating of themold 5. Simultaneously, the platen IB is lowered to the positionillustrated in Fig. 2 to open the bottom of mold 5.

The flow of gas at high pressure and temperature from the compressor 22and conduit 26 through the coil I! will transmit heat to the top wall 6of the mold and from the top wall to the depending sides 7 and crosspartitions 8. The heating of these walls will melt the ice at theircontacting surfaces to release the ice from the cells 9. Also, due tothe heat transfer surface of top wall 8 of mold 5 around the ventopenings 68, any ice at the edge of the vent openings will be melted toprovide an air space therebetween to vent the top of the cells 9. Theclose fit of the ice cubes C in the individual cells 9 and the meltedliquid therebetween form an air seal which, without vent openings lll,would prevent the cubes from falling freely from the cells- With such anair seal at the sides of the ice cubes C, an excessive amount of icemust be melted and a considerable period of time elapse before air-canenter around the sides of the cubes and relieve the partial vacuum inthe space S abovethe top of the cubes.

The vent openings 38 in the top of the mold 5, however, avoid such anair seal by permitting air to directly enter the space S between the topof the cells 9 and the ice cubes C so that when their contactingsurfaces are released the cubes will fall freely from the cells in themanner illustrated in Fig. l. In other words, as soon as the bondbetween the ice cubes C and cells 9 is released, the weight of theindividual cubes will cause them to slide downwardly in the cells withequalized air pressure on boththe top and the bottom of the cube, seeFig. 4. While the ice releasing operation has been described withrespect to individual ice cubes C, the cubes are I actually attached toeach other by freezing over the bottom of the partitions 3, asillustrated in Fig. 4, so that ice falls from the mold 5 in a singlecake and onto the platen it] where it is broken up into individualcubes.

After the ice has been released from the mold 5, the platen ii] is movedfrom the position shown in Fig. 2 to that shown in Fig.1 to close theopen bottom. Theball float i5 is then in a lowered position whichpermits switch 15 to complete a circuit through the solenoid foractuating the water valve it to supply water through the funnel tube llinto the interior of the mold. When the proper amount of water has beensupplied to mold 5, the float l5 actuates switch it to open osition toclose water valve it. The temperature of mold 5 immediately increasesafter the cake of ice has been released and the increase in temperatureacting through bulb 34 expands bellows 35 and actuates the switch 35 toopen position. The solenoid of the selector valve 27 then is deenergizedand the valve moves to close the bypass conduit 26 for terminatingheating and initiating cooling of the mold 5. Thus, a cycleof operationof the machine has been completed and a new cycle of operationinitiated.

It will now be observed that the present invention provides a moldconstruction which facilitates the freezing .of liquid therein and therelease of ice therefrom so as to reduce the time required and theamount of ice melted during an ice releasing operation. It will also beobserved that the present invention breaks the air seal between thecubes and cells in which they are frozen. It will still further beobserved that the present invention provides a novel mold in the form ofan inverted tray having cross partitions therein forming adjacent cellswith a vent opening for each cell in the top wall of the mold.

While a single embodiment of the invention is herein illustrated anddescribed, it will be understood that changes may be made in theconstruction and arrangement of elements without departing from thespirit or scope of the invention. Therefore, without limitation in thisrespect, the invention is defined by the following claim.

I claim:

In an ice making machine, a mold having a top and depending side wallswith an open bottom, cross partitions in the mold forming a plurality ofcells, a platen for opening and closing the bottom of the mold, a coiloverlying the topof 6 the mold, a heat exchange system connected to saidcoil to deliver either a cooling or heating medium to the coil to freezeliquid in the mold and release ice therefrom, and a vent opening in thetop wall of the mold overlying each cell.

CLYDE E PLOEGER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS

